Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I speak in the Australian Senate tonight, communities around this nation, especially in New South Wales and Queensland, are bracing for catastrophic fire conditions, some of the worst fire conditions ever seen in this country. I acknowledge the fear, the anxiety, the suffering and the stress of these communities, the people directly and indirectly affected by these fires, the emergency services personnel, the firefighters and everything they're feeling tonight. It's hard to imagine, but I do remember in 2012, my community in Bicheno, where I built my home, along with communities in the south-east of Tasmania, also suffered catastrophic fires. I got the smallest sense then of the kind of fear that these communities would be feeling. One good thing that came from the fires in Tasmania—and I know we've seen it in recent days in New South Wales and Queensland—and something we can take heart from is how this has brought out the best in communities. Communities are out there doing everything they can to check on their neighbours, to help pack things up, to offer assistance and to volunteer their time.

But it shouldn't be up to communities. The primary, key role of any government is to protect its citizens. On any account, this federal government and the state governments of New South Wales and Queensland have failed to protect these communities. You could say it in old-fashioned terms: forewarned is forearmed. Don't let anybody in here or in the other place say that governments weren't forewarned 20 years ago on the risks that were being posed about long-term changes in our climate. There were even recent pleas from fire chiefs directly to our Prime Minister to put more resources, more energy and more focus into providing that security for Australian citizens.

I initiated an inquiry in the Senate Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade and we looked at the impact of climate change on our national security. We spoke to hundreds of witnesses and we heard evidence about the daunting challenges facing emergency services and governments around this nation. We've had plenty of time to plan for this climate catastrophe that we now find ourselves in. To those who say that it's too soon to talk about policy and politics, I would argue that it's actually too late to talk about it now because it's already happening. We've had decades to prepare. We've had warnings from some of the best scientists on the planet, emergency service personnel, and planners at the state and the federal level that we are facing a future of increased risk of these kinds of catastrophes and we haven't adequately planned for it.

I note that in New South Wales the context of these fires has the backdrop of some of the worst and longest droughts that we've ever had in this country. It was reported in this nation yesterday that on the mainland of Australia—so it excludes Tasmania—not a single drop of rain was recorded for the first time in Australia's history. These fires are burning in unprecedented areas and at times we've never seen before, and it's not even summer yet. This is not even peak fire season. Things are changing. The weather has changed. We must not continue to go down the same path, with the same old insanity and the same old madness of business as usual, and continue to burn fossil fuels, with leaders in this place not making the brave decisions they need to make.

There will be some costs and there will be some hardships to transition the economy to renewable energy. We need to show the global leadership that we need to get all nations around the world to take effective action on climate change, reign in emissions and try to give our children a future—the same children who were striking all around the nation in their hundreds of thousands; the same children who have had their schools shut this week in New South Wales and Queensland. Nearly 500 schools had to close. Climate change is already impacting these students. They were worried about their future in decades to come, but it's already here. We have a moral obligation in this place to put aside our differences and focus on doing everything we possibly can to show global leadership the action that's needed on climate change. (Time expired)